Error-related negativity and error awareness in a Go/No-go task.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Electrophysiology

Background:

• Conscious error perception relies on error monitoring.
• The precise role of early error monitoring, particularly the error-related negativity (ERN) and theta oscillations, in developing error awareness is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between the ERN, error-related theta oscillations, and the emergence of error awareness.
• To clarify whether early error monitoring signals precede conscious error perception.

Main Methods:

• Utilized time- and phase-locked averaging analysis on 4-8 Hz filtered EEG data.
• Performed phase-locked time-frequency analysis to examine neural oscillations.
• Analyzed continuous EEG data, both with and without filtering outside the theta band, and after removing non-phase-locked components.

Main Results:

• The ERN amplitude did not significantly differ between errors that were consciously perceived (aware) and those that were not (unaware).
• Theta power was significantly stronger for aware errors compared to unaware errors.
• This pattern of stronger theta power for aware errors persisted even after removing the non-phase-locked EEG component.

Conclusions:

• The ERN appears to originate from the phase-locked component of theta band EEG activity.
• The ERN, through theta oscillations, plays a role in conscious error perception and contributes to the emergence of error awareness.
• Early error monitoring acts as a precursor to error awareness, though this link can be obscured by high-frequency activity in unaware errors when the ERN is not specifically filtered within the theta band.